The city could eventually see a major sidewalk improvement project on High Street — thanks to a $750,000 earmark inserted by state Rep. Patricia A. Haddad into a $12 billion transportation bond bill.

That bill was unanimously approved by the House on Wednesday night.

The Taunton funding component would create handicapped-accessible curb ramps at crosswalks, improvements to existing sidewalks and the installation of new sidewalks where needed.

Haddad, D-Somerset, said she's hopeful the Senate will approve the current version of the bill. Bond bills, she said, usually have a life span of five years.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," she said.

Haddad said she also included funding for bike path and sidewalk improvements in Somerset and Swansea. When it comes to crafting such bond bills, she said, the challenge is deciding which improvement project is most worthy.

"You always ask, 'What is it you need?'" Haddad said.

The sidewalks on High Street — which extends three long, residential blocks from Ingell to Cohannet streets — is a mishmash of dirt, grass and deteriorating walkways.

Haddad said she and state Rep. Shaunna O'Connell, R-Taunton, worked together, contacting Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. to determine how the local transportation-related funding should be spent.

"It's great news," Hoye said, acknowledging that portions of sidewalk on High Street are in poor condition.

The mayor said the earmark is consistent with his administration's overall strategy of assuring that Taunton sidewalks become fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Haddad said her goal is to encourage more people to take advantage of the outdoors and, especially in the case of Taunton, to be able to do so safely.

Taunton lawyer Joseph deMello, who in 2011 filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of Nancy Gero, a wheelchair-bound Taunton resident, welcomed the news.

"It's beneficial to everyone in the city," he said.

Each time Nancy Gero leaves her house, deMello said, she risks her life navigating the city's sidewalks.

Her wheelchair has been snagged on railroad tracks, where the disintegrating sidewalks and steel rails create impregnable obstacles.

More than once, passing motorists have stopped to help free her from a difficult situation before it turned to tragedy. Often she abandons the sidewalks and takes to the street.

She is suing the city, asking them to fix their sidewalks, so all residents can travel unfettered. If state funding is approved, some paths of travel may soon reopen for Gero.

deMello, who has muscular dystrophy and is himself reliant on a wheelchair, said any kind of infrastructure improvement doesn't just improve personal safety. It also enhances a neighborhood's overall quality and appearance.

He said the Gero case — in which deMello is seeking damages from the city for alleged failure to comply with ADA rules — has moved from the mediation phase and has been placed on the full trial calender with the U.S. District Court.

Page 2 of 2 - "It will go to litigation," he said.

deMello said he intends to prove that Taunton still has "miles and miles of sidewalks that should, and could have by now, been (made) accessible."

He said he's completely satisfied with the results of the city's $2.1 million Downtown Sidewalks Improvement Project. "So far they've turned out very nicely, and they do comply," deMello said.

Riding around the city by car can be a frustrating experience for deMello. It's hard to travel more than a few blocks without spotting numerous ADA violations.

He points out illegal grades at driveway curb-cuts and broken sections of blacktop sidewalks he estimates to be more than a half-century old.

On County Street, a major thoroughfare, the sidewalk shrinks to a foot or less at spots. Sections have gaps between them, and deep ruts can easily trap a wheelchair.

Along Oak Street, blocks from Taunton's temporary City Hall, double poles limit sidewalk space, where the sidewalk exists. At one point, the sidewalk disappears for hundreds of feet next to a city park. Gero has to swing her chair out onto the road to travel from her home to City Hall.

"Nancy is fearless," deMello said. "But she says she has to be, or she wouldn't get anywhere in this city."